Have we all gone infographic mad?

My degree was in Graphic Information Design, so I’ve always had a passion for a good information graphic, ever since we studied the ultimate infographic, the London tube map.

So I was particularly pleased when Tanya Goodin put “Information is beautiful” on my desk last year. But ever since we seem to have all gone a bit infographic mad… I found about 30 infographics online around the World Cup alone.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this new trend. We have access to so much information and data and there’s nothing like a really stunning infographic to sort it all out, but there are good and bad ones.

A good infographic should help us digest even the most lengthy or convoluted information by making it look simple, enable boring information to look interesting and ideally be something you would happily put on the wall of your office.

Amongst the good ones, the best ones are either very useful:

The Conversation Prism - The art of listening, learning & sharing

News worthy or relevant:

There are an abundance of graphics around the World Cup and BP oil spill, but I think these ones are the best.

The cost & effects of the Oil Spill

Or in other cases a little bit witty, which is what David McCandless does so charmingly.